Neiman Marcus Group chairman and chief executive officer Burt Tansky was given the keys to the city of Florence at an intimate gathering in the Palazzo...

TANSKY’S FLORENCE: Neiman Marcus Group chairman and chief executive officer Burt Tansky was given the keys to the city of Florence at an intimate gathering in the Palazzo Vecchio there Friday morning, on the occasion of the 74th edition of Pitti Immagine. Joining the celebrations presided over by the mayor of Florence, Leonardo Domenici, were the Ferragamo family and company ceo Michele Norsa, and Pitti president Gaetano Marzotto and ceo Raffaelo Napoleone, among others. “I am humbled by today’s offer. It is an unusual privilege,” said Tansky, who has been coming to the Tuscan capital since 1974. “I’ve been wondering what I’ll do with [the keys]….Perhaps someone can help me find what doors they open,” he joked.

“Very few of these awards are given, but Burt Tansky is a very special person,” Marzotto said. “He has always tried to understand the Italian way of life, not just the product, but a taste for nice beautiful things.”

BRYANBAG: Move over Victoria Beckham and Imelda Marcos. Manila-based blogger Bryanboy just added his latest luxury handbag to a collection that already spans 100-plus pieces. This one happens to be named after him. Four months ago Marc Jacobs was photographed backstage at his fall 2008 show holding up an “I [heart] Bryanboy” poster and Bryanboy enthused over a women’s ostrich skin handbag from the show on his bryanboy.com blog. An e-mail subsequently sent by Jacobs to Bryanboy promised to name the bag in question the “BB” in the blogger’s honor. Now, Jacobs appears to have made good on the promise.

Over the weekend, a series of posts on bryanboy.com revealed photos of a DHL delivery slip from Marc Jacobs International, a large Marc Jacobs box, a portion of a handwritten note from Jacobs on the designer’s personal stationery and a link to the Luisa Via Roma e-tail site offering pre-orders of a goatskin version of the Marc Jacobs “Sunburst BB Shoulderbag”, with September delivery. And finally, images of the bag in question — or at least, the original prototype, Bryanboy told WWD, which he reports the designer told him was “not perfected, as it is the sample from the show” but was sent because Jacobs “felt that was somehow special in a way.”

Bryanboy photographed himself holding the bag, with one of the images a mockup in which he “stars” in his own Marc Jacobs advertising campaign. So far, Jacobs has neither publicly confirmed nor denied that Bryanboy is a new muse. When asked if Jacobs named the bag after Bryanboy, a spokeswoman for the designer, Asa Larsson, reluctantly noted, “Allegedly so.”

BLUE NOTES: Tagging has never smelled better. Boudicca, the conceptual London-based fashion brand, is readying to unveil its first commercial “art fragrance,” Wode, during Paris couture week, packaged in a graffiti can. Developed with International Flavors & Fragrances, the canister releases a perfumed mist along with a shock of cobalt blue paint that evaporates in about 30 seconds, even if it lands on clothing. “It was inspired by the war paint Queen Boudicca wore riding into battle with her tribe,” said a Boudicca spokeswoman, adding that the brand also hopes to showcase a new fabric that reveals an ephemeral print when sprayed with a specially developed liquid. The scent’s notes, meanwhile, include hemlock, the plant that Queen Boudicca is said to have used to poison herself with when captured by the Romans.

RULES OF ETIQUETTE: Council of Fashion Designers of America president Diane von Furstenberg last week dispatched a letter with a few suggestions for everyone involved in New York Fashion Week. Among them, she encouraged designers to pick their show dates and times at least six weeks before fashion week and, if a conflict emerges, try everything to avoid having to change the slot. Von Furstenberg also made a case for presentations rather than full-blown runway shows, especially for smaller collections or businesses with less than four seasons under their belts. In addition, von Furstenberg encouraged designers to be more considerate of previous and following shows when choosing an off-site venue and asked them to make a serious effort to be punctual.

“Please make every effort to start your show no later than 10 minutes after the hour,” von Furstenberg wrote. “If guests know that shows are expected to start on time, they will make an effort to arrive accordingly.”

And she even had something to say to show guests. “Please make sure to arrive at each show you attend on the hour,” she wrote. “Please take your seat quickly, so that designers are not forced to hold the ‘start of show’ based on their guests’ arrivals.”

The letter also reasserted that, beginning next year, New York Fashion Week will begin every second Friday of February and September.

In honor of Rihanna’s 30th birthday, we took a look back at an interview with the Barbados-native when she was just 18 years old. Here, she talked about her second album, “A Girl Like Me” in 2006. “I want to be me. I want people to fall in love with who Rihanna is, and that’s why I want the album to be about me so people can really find out who this girl Rihanna is, because they only know the ‘Pon de Replay’ girl.” Fast forward 12 years, and she’s released six more albums and has become a powerhouse in both the fashion and music industries. Happy birthday, @badgalriri 🎈(📷: Pavel Antonov) #wwdarchive

For @simonerocha_‘s fall show, hairstylist @jamespecis created a look inspired by the painter John Constable. Models’ hair was pulled back, tied into knots and topped off with a bow. (📷: @kukukuba) #wwdbeauty #lfw

Queen Elizabeth made a surprise appearance at @richardquinn1's London Fashion Week show to present the designer with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. The new award will be handed out annually to an emerging British fashion designer who shows exceptional talent, while demonstrating value to the community and sustainable policies. #wwdfashion #lfw (📷: @giovanni_giannoni_photo)